


Their Last Conversation

by Evil_Squirrel



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Family Drama, Gen, Past Character Death, mentions of bad parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 12:36:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20507120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Squirrel/pseuds/Evil_Squirrel
Summary: The last time Grisha spoke to his parents.





	Their Last Conversation

It wasn’t that long since Mr. Jaeger came back from work. He was sitting in an old armchair, holding his cup of tea and looking out of the window. Today’s been hard since he had to tell one of his patients that even though Marley was way merciful to them than they deserved the medication needed for him wasn’t available to Eldians. It may hurt that one had to tell somebody such a thing, but they deserved it.  
  
“Wait, I’m right there!” he heard his wife shouting while she went to open the door. “I’m so glad you came to visit us!”  
  
“Mom, I came to talk with dad, could you tell me where he is?” Grisha’s voice sounded too calm, nearly emotionless.  
  
“Of course, I will bring you to him.” It seemed that his wife had noticed too that there was something weird with their son’s voice. Mr. Jaeger stood up and put his cup on a window sill, maybe unnecessarily far from the only flower there.  
  
“Hello,” he said as both of them came into the living room. “I heard your conversation. What do you want to talk about?”  
  
Grisha, standing barely a step from the door, took a deep breath before he started talking. “It’s about Zeke. We had a conversation with him yesterday and…” He clenched his fists. “And he told me he had seen the photo of me and Faye.” The more he spoke, the more he lost his composure. “And he told me you had told him that…” His voice cracked. “That it was my fault. Why would you tell him such a thing?”  
  
“You told him that?” Mrs. Jaeger stared in disbelief.  
  
“I did,” he nodded. “I think it could be a month ago? It was that one time when Zeke cried in his bed.”  
  
“Obviously, he’s going to cry when you keep telling him that his father was responsible for someone’s death!” Grisha was waving his arms. “Why?”  
  
“Zeke seemed to be sad from the moment you brought him,” his father said, looking at the cup for a moment. “It wasn’t the first time when he looked genuinely unhappy. Maybe he would’ve been happier if you spent more time caring for him and less time dancing.” The last sentence sounded more bitter than he intended.  
  
“Don’t be so harsh!” After that, Mrs. Jaeger put her hands on Grisha’s shoulders. “Look, I’m sorry we haven’t told you earlier, but we thought… uh… You know, being a parent is hard. Being a first time parent is exceptionally hard and it’s inevitable you will eventually screw up. And sometimes you have to sacrifice something for your kid. Not just something, lots of things. I think you should give up that social dance thing for a while and spend more time with Zeke. He must be so stressed from all that training! Read him a fairytale book or…”  
  
“Learn him about our history.” Mr. Jaeger interrupted his wife. “I asked him a few questions not so long ago and he didn’t answer anything, just stared at his shoes. He needs to know our place.”  
  
“But why?” Grisha ignored what his parents said.  
  
“Because he asked me who that girl on the photo is. He hoped that she’s still somewhere around and he could make friends with her since he has none. I…” He tried to suppress tears in his eyes.  
  
“You really think all of it was my fault?” Grisha sounded broken.  
  
“Look, son, I’m not holding it against you, but…” He sighed. “If it was someone’s fault, it was yours. You were old enough to know the rules.”  
  
“What? You think I’m the one to blame and not the Marleyan who killed her? Are you serious?” Grisha yelled.  
  
“Please, stop it,” his mother whispered, but both men ignored her.  
  
“The Marleyan who killed her? Do you have a proof that somebody killed her intentionally? You can’t just blame someone without any evidence, especially not Marleyans! They are victims of our ancestors!” Mr. Jaeger raised his voice too.  
  
“By that logic, a victim of kidnapping can kidnap their kidnapper and get away with it! And even so, do you have a proof that Marleyans are just victims?”  
  
“Don’t you remember what I told you back then? These walls are thin! Are you really so selfish that you would send your own parents to Paradis because you had a bad day and came to yell at them heretical things?” He heard loud sobbing that belonged to his wife. “See that? You’re making your mother cry!” She walked out of the room and slammed the door after those words.  
  
Grisha flinched. “I remember everything! I remember how you smiled, nodded at everything they said and then you opened that stupid book instead of – I don’t know – comforting me?”  
  
“Shut up! Why don’t you shut up? I warned you twice already that your words can sentence us! How come you behave like this? We didn’t raise you like that! Do I need to tell you over and over again that we are guilty of being descendants of a genocidal empire and our victims have every right to resent us?”  
  
“But Faye was innocent!” Grisha sobbed.  
  
“I know she was! The guard told me you dragged her against her will!” When he said that, he froze. Grisha froze too. For a moment, both of them were just staring at each other. When Grisha made a move, everything was slowed down. He closed the distance between them, still maintaining the eye contact, prepared himself, extended his arm, not paying attention to the noise coming from outside, and moved it, moved it, inch by inch, until his palm met his father’s face. Then, in a sudden awakening, he took his arm back as his eyes widened.  
  
“What have I done?” he whispered, looking like he’s about to break down. Then the unnatural calmness came back. “You won’t see me here ever again.”  
  
“I-I’m sorry,” Mr. Jaeger said. It hurt. Not his face though, that just stung. Losing a kid did. And he knew he just lost him. He wanted to reach out, to catch his son, to hug him and to be forgiven and to pretend that this evening didn't happen, but he didn't move at all as his son left. Deep inside he knew he deserved to suffer. As did every Eldian. 


End file.
